Politics

Anti-Trump LA Mayor Asks Hollywood Pals For Help Out With Potential White House Bid

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is allowing red state Democrats to tap into wealthy Hollywood donors as the party works to make political gains ahead of the midterm elections.

Garcetti hosted the South Carolina Democratic Party Tuesday for a fundraiser that raised as much cash in a few hours as the state party collected in the entire month of March, Politico reported. The California Democrat’s strategy is designed to garner Garcetti name recognition as he mulls a possible run for president in 2020.

He’s offering South Carolina and other southern states an opportunity to tap into the deep pockets of Hollywood producers, while simultaneously elevating himself in key early-voting states that make or break presidential candidates. Democratic insiders are praising Garcetti’s move.

“I haven’t heard of too many candidates doing fundraising in their home states for [other state] parties,” Rose Kapolczynski, a Democratic strategist and adviser to former California Sen. Barbara Boxer. “Of course, most candidates don’t have that advantage.”

Garcetti is the “mayor of one of the Democratic ATMs and can introduce people to wealthy progressives who are willing to give. You’re not going to raise a lot of Democratic money in the state of Montana, as lovely as that state is,” she said. Other Democratic insiders shared similar thoughts.

“This is a first,” Garcetti adviser Rick Jacobs told Politico reporters before the South Carolina event. “The mayor really wanted to do it … He really thinks it’s a great opportunity to encourage donors in Los Angeles to invest, frankly, in things that aren’t often seen as sexy as a candidate.”

He added: “We can’t rule entire swaths of the country out anymore. If we learned anything in 2016, we learned that.” Garcetti is facing an uphill battle if he intends on running against President Donald Trump, whom the Los Angeles mayor has called immoral.

“I am totally opposed to so much of the immorality coming out of the White House right now, but I’d like to also talk about its impracticality,” Garcetti told The Atlantic in December 2017. “This is a very impractical White House. When it comes to public safety, I listen to police chiefs and cops, not to a cable-news station.” (RELATED: LA’s Gigantic Homeless Problem Could Derail Anti-Trump Mayor’s White House Bid)

Garcetti will have to do a little house cleaning in his own state before leaping headfirst into any national races. He’s currently scratching and clawing for solutions to Los Angeles’ unsheltered homeless problem. Analysts believe the city’s ever-increasing number of transient citizens could cost him if he runs for higher office. (RELATED: Middle Class Workers Are Bailing On California And Making For These Red States)

He aims to get half of the city’s more than 25,000 homeless people into shelters before the end of his term. The homeless population has ballooned to 49 percent since 2013, when Garcetti was first elected. People are falling into homelessness inside the city limits faster than officials can handle.

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